Bad is rad

We all know there's good and bad. And sometimes things are just so bad that they're somehow good, like parachute pants, Boone's Farm and Ron Jeremy. Here are two late-night films playing this weekend that aren't even that good—but are so bad that you'll want to enjoy them with hundreds of your newest, drunkest friends. Get there early—these shows will likely sell out:

Birdemic: Shock and Terror: Plan 9 From Outer Space. Showgirls. Troll 2. And now there's Birdemic. Seriously, James Nguyen's odd homage to Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is fucking terrible. It's poorly written. It's poorly acted. It's poorly directed. And you, dear reader, could create better special effects on your MacBook Pro. I know, you're thinking, Hey, I don't know anything about special effects! But neither did the dude Nguyen hired to do the special effects for the movie. It screens at midnight onSaturday, July 24, at the Ken Cinema, so swing by early, get yourtickets and then go have a lot of drinks. Because even though it's sobad, you'll enjoy the hell out of watching it with 400 otherinebriates. And when it's done, you'll stagger outside, thinking, Man,I could have made better special effects than that.

The Room: Speakingof bad movies, Tommy Wiseau's The Room has often been referred to asthe Citizen Kane of bad movies. The weird-ass dark comedy, which Wiseauwrote, directed, produced and starred in, played midnight screenings inL.A. for years before finding a wider audience. Sure, it's been to SanDiego before, but this screening is special because Wiseau will be inthe audience. Is it intentionally as bad as it seems? Ask him yourselfat midnight, Friday, July 23, at the Ken Cinema.

Kisses: A sweet little Irish film about two young runaway teens in Dublin.

The Love Ranch: Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci—both of whom have Oscars, remember—star in this look at the early days of Nevada's brothel industry.

Ramona and Beezus: There'sa perfectly good chance this adaptation of Beverly Cleary's book willbe charming. Or it might destroy your childhood memories.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead: This play-within-a-playwithin-a-movie satire adds vampires and Ralph Macchio to the mix. See our review on Page 21.

Salt: Angelina Jolie is a CIA agent who beats down a ton of people after she's accused of being a Russian spy.

ONE TIME ONLY

Lucky Number Slevin: Thisgangster film, starring Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Ben Kingsley andMorgan Freeman, is being presented as a singles mixer by the San DiegoJewish Film Festival. Oy. Screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 21, atCinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Step Brothers: WillFerrell and John C. Reilly are dudes suffering from arresteddevelopment who become bros when their respective parents get together.Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 21, at The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.Free.

Fight Club: Weheard about this great club, it's called Fight Club. It's got somerules, but we totally forgot what they are. Screens at 8:30 p.m.Wednesday, July 21, at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens inEscondido. Free.

Scribble No. 2: Thelatest documentary from Mark Murphy is part of the Comic-Con receptionof the art show Survey Select, which kicks off at 6 p.m., Thursday,July 22, at the Wonderbread Factory, Downtown.

The Cove: There's a reason this look at annual dolphin slaughters in Japan won the Best Documentary at the Oscarsin February. Screens at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 22, at the Birch NorthPark Theatre. See Page 13 for details about a pre-film mixer and pre-and post-film Q&As.

A Hard Day's Night: TheMuseum of Photographic Arts puts on a kick-ass movie party once amonth. This day-in a-life look at the Beatles is one of the first musicvideos ever created, and you can sip cocktails from Alchemy whilescoping snapshots from Graham Nash's exhibit. Oh, and there's livemusic from Rafter. The party starts at 7, and the film rolls at 8 p.m.Thursday, July 22, at MoPA in Balboa Park.

Eraserhead: It'sfitting that you have to swing by Zirk Ubu's website to even find outwhere the urban circus collective is screening David Lynch's dystopianfreak show at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 22.

Bee Movie: Afterbeing mostly MIA since the end of Seinfeld, Jerry buzzes in as ananimated bee. Screens at 8 p.m. Thursday, July 22, poolside at theHandlery Hotel in Mission Valley. Free.

Happy Accidents: MarisaTomei is Rudy, a New Yorker who thinks she's finally found the rightguy in Vincent D'Onofrio's Ben. That is, until he tells her he's a timetraveler from the future. Screens at 8:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday,July 22 and 23, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

A Hero's Welcome: Documentaryabout John Finn and other Medal of Honor winners. Screens at 5:30 p.m.Friday, July 23, at UltraStar Mission Valley.It's free, but you have to e-mail rfalk@lightningbear.tv to reserve a seat.

The Blind Side: Deservingor not, Sandra Bullock sure was gracious when she accepted her BestActress Oscar for this one. Screens at dusk, Friday, July 23, at MarketCreek Plaza in Lincoln Park. Free.

Serving in Silence: GlennClose stars in this biopic of Margareth Cammermeyer, who was in thearmy for more than 20 years before being kicked out for being gay. Partof the Sapphic Cinema series, it screens at 7 p.m. Friday, July 23, atThe Center in Hillcrest.

The Lady Vanishes: MargaretLockwood stars in the Hitchcock classic about a young socialite whonotices that an older woman on her train has gone missing. Screens at8:30 p.m.Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25, at Cinema Under the Stars in Mission Hills.

Shrek 2: Isthis the one with Justin Timberlake? No? Forget it, then. Starts atdusk, Saturday, July 24, at the South Promenade at Liberty Station.Free.

Greenberg: Thelatest from The Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach is anobservational character piece starring Ben Stiller as Greenberg, a guywho can't accept that life didn't work out the way he had hoped.Screens at 6:30 p.m. Monday, July 26, at the Central Library, Downtown.Free.

The Big Lebowski: The dude abides at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Monday, July 26, at the Birch North Park Theatre.

48 Hour Film Project screenings: Youknow the 48 Hour Film Project, right, in which teams of filmmakersscramble to complete a project in just two days? Here are the fruits oftheir labor. Some will be great. Others will suck. You get the idea.Screens at 6 and 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, July 28 and 29, atUltraStar Mission Valley.

Beautiful Losers and Scribble.08: Twoterrific documentaries about art and the artists who art it. Part ofthe Survey Select show, it begins at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 28, at theWonderbread Factory, Downtown.

Leap!: Advertisedas picking up where The Secret left off. That should either persuadeyou or dissuade you. Screens at 7 p.m., Wednesday, July 28, at Vision:A Center for Spiritual Living in Clairemont Mesa.

Blazing Saddles: MelBrooks? Check. Blistering satire? Check. Insightful thoughts on racism?Check. One of the first films to feature farts on screen? Double-check.Screens at 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 28, The Pearl Hotel in Point Loma.Free.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail: Run away! Run away! Screens at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 28, at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens in Escondido. Free.

NOW PLAYING

Restrepo: Thisdocumentary keeps the cameras on a U.S. platoon in one of the mostdangerous parts of Afghanistan for a solid year. Harrowing.